Twins

The 9-month-old Siamese twins separated in a marathon weekend operation are not out of the woods yet. Surgeons said they should know by Thursday if Meera and Shiva Ramkhalawan are on a road to recovery. The twins, whose parents are from Trinidad, are on support systems in the intensive care unit at the Hospital for Sick Children, where a medical team of 58 people separated the infants in 22 1/2 hours of surgery that ended early Sunday.

Name: Rebecca "Becky" Abel Age: 62. Family: Two children — a son and a daughter and two sets of twins, for a total of four grandchildren. Where do you live? Water Oak since May 1 of this year. Where did you grow up and what are your memories of your hometown? I was born in Fairmont., W. Va., and grew up Bellview, W. Va. Playing ball, everybody coming to our houses to play, good times. Everyone who was friends of mine then are still friends now. We bonded in the community.

Q.How are the Adams twins, whose stepmother was charged with attempted murder after police say she left them unattended in a bathtub?A.Dante and Shante Adams, 19 months old, have both been released from Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women in Orlando.The twins are now recuperating at home.The children were unconscious when Orlando Fire Department paramedics pulled them from an overflowing bathtub July 3.Dante was released from the hospital four days later.Shante was in critical condition until early August.

SANFORD - Christopher and Manuel Rodriguez Jr. are twin brothers, born three minutes apart nearly 20 years ago. They grew up together in Altamonte Springs and are practicing Jehovah's Witnesses. If prosecutors have their way, both will wind up on death row in a few months after a daring, spur-of-the-moment shooting in broad daylight Jan. 20 on one of the busiest stretches of road in Central Florida: State Road 436 less than a half-mile west of Interstate 4. There were more than a dozen eyewitnesses, according to newly released records, and the slaying was captured by a surveillance video camera a few dozen yards away.

The surgeon, Walter Bobechko, calls it the hospital's ''gift of Christmas'' to Latchman and Evelyn Ramkhalawan. The couple's Siamese twins, surgically separated in October, were discharged Tuesday and should be back home in Trinidad today. ''We feel very happy about going home. We're very pleased with the children,'' said Latchman, 30, of sons Meer and Shiva. Bobechko said the 11-month-old boys probably will not have to return to Toronto for treatment. Hometown of the Ramkhalawans is Chaguanas, a city of 150,000 in Trinidad.

TAVARES – Lawyers for an Orlando twin accused of a double murder in Eustis may have found an alibi witness as the much-delayed death-penalty case starts this week. Defense lawyers John Spivey and Michael Graves discovered last week that Deandrew "Little D" Scott, 20, who is serving a five-year prison term for armed robbery, claims that Dante Hall could not have been involved in the deadly shooting because Hall was gambling with him in Orlando. If convicted of the first-degree murder charges and sentenced to die, Dante Hall, 25, would join Donte Hall, his identical twin brother and alleged accomplice in the September 2006 killings on Florida's death row. They would be the nation's first set of twins to receive death sentences – Donte Hall was sentenced to death in December.

The twins of missing Orlando woman Michelle Parker were spotted this week at the SunRail station in Maitland, relatives told the media today. The sighting prompted Brad and Gayle Parker, Michelle's father and stepmother, to revive a request for visitation - a request they said was denied. Parker, a mother of three, vanished in November 2011 after dropping off her young twins with her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith, the only suspect in her disappearance. He has not been charged. Smith has custody of the 6-year-old twins - Trey, also known as Dale III, and Taylor - and is living Tennessee, they said.

Nick Gordon, the former Olympia High School shortstop, signed with the Minnesota Twins on Monday for $3.85 million. Gordon was selected with the fifth overall pick in Thursday's baseball draft, making him one of the highest draft picks ever from the Sentinel's readership area. Only Lake Brantley graduate Rickie Weeks and Oviedo graduate Mark Merchant were drafted earlier. Both Weeks and Merchant were taken with the No. 2 pick - Weeks by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003, Merchant by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1987.

Moments after the Minnesota Twins selected Olympia shortstop Nick Gordon with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the baseball draft Thursday night, he sounded as if he had raced from first base to home plate. The life-altering moment took away his breath. “I couldn't believe it when my name was called,” Gordon said from MLB Network's Studio 42, site of the draft in Secaucus, N.J. “I honestly didn't expect it. You can never expect having your name called. “I am ready to be a Twin.” Former DeLand right-hander Luke Weaver, a junior at Florida State, went 27th overall to the St. Louis Cardinals.

An overnight crash has left an Orlando man dead and his twin brother seriously injured. According to the FHP, 18-year-old Bryam Mancebo Sencion was driving a 1999 Honda, and his brother Jasson was a passenger, just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday on E. Orange Lake Boulevard near U.S. Highway 192. The intersection is just west of Walt Disney World and just east of the State Road 429 interchange. FHP said that Bryam lost control of the vehicle, causing it to leave the roadway and hit a tree.

The twins of missing Orlando woman Michelle Parker turned 6 Friday in what has become yet another bittersweet birthday for Central Florida relatives. Parker, a mother of three, vanished in November 2011 after dropping off her young twins with her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith, the only suspect in her disappearance. He has not been charged. Smith has custody of the twins — Trey, also known as Dale III, and Taylor — and is living Tennessee, they said. "Today is a special day for two very special little people," Brad and Gayle Parker, Michelle's father and stepmother, said in an email Friday to the media.

A roller-skating party and silent auction are planned as part of a spirit night for Team Burky, which will raise money for Joey and Devon Burkhalter, whose twins were born 3 1/2 months premature. The event is scheduled for Let's Skate Orlando (14207 W. Colonial Dr., Winter Garden) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 3. Money raised through donations and admission will go to the Burkhalters. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for children. Donations can be dropped off any time at Let's Skate Orlando or made at everribbon.com/ribbon/view/16487.

The hospital room was dark and empty when Devon Burkhalter awoke. Memories of doctors yelling slowly crept into her mind. The past 12 hours had been a whirlwind. "They kept telling me, 'The babies need to come out now, or they won't make it,'" said Burkhalter, who was put under anesthesia for a Cesarean section. "I was terrified. I didn't know how my babies were. I didn't know if they were even alive. " Devon delivered twins Audrey and Joey, who both weighed about 2 pounds when they were born 3 1/2 months early in February.

When Lindsay Preston stepped onto a soccer field for the first time, she wanted to prove a point. She was four years old and one of two girls on a team full of boys, including her twin brother, Cameron. "As a girl, personally, you just want to say, 'That stereotypical girl you have inside your head is not me,'" said Preston, now a senior at Oviedo. "'So if you're coming at me and you plan on breezing past me, it's not going to happen.'" And it rarely does. Preston, the Sentinel's all-area Player of the Year, developed an intensity on the field with the boys that she has carried throughout her career.